1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a low-temperature formation method for emitter tips including copper oxide nanowires or copper nanowires and a display device or a light source having the emitter tips manufactured using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A display device, such as a field emission display (FED), a vacuum fluorescent display (VFD), and a cathode ray tube (CRT), or a light source, such as a white light source and a backlight lamp of a liquid crystal display (LCD), requires emitter tips, which emit electrons if a predetermined intensity of electric field is applied thereto.
In recent years, carbon nanotubes have been strongly relied upon as new emitter tips because the carbon nanotubes have an emitting voltage that is several tens times as low as that of conventional emitter tips, but have an emitting current that is several tens to several hundred times as high as that of the conventional emitter tips. However, carbon nanotubes have been conventionally manufactured using a high-temperature process, for example, at a temperature of 700° C. or higher. For this reason, it is impossible to form carbon nanotubes on a glass substrate, which is widely used as a substrate of various display devices or light sources and has a strain temperature of 650° C. or less. For example, a high-intensity glass has a strain temperature of 650° C. or less, a typical glass has a strain temperature of 570° C. or less, and a soda lime glass has a strain temperature of 550° C. or less. Unless a glass substrate is used, the manufacture of carbon nanotubes is very likely to have technical and economical problems. Accordingly, a formation temperature of emitter tips must be less than a strain temperature of a glass substrate. Although there are known methods for lowering a formation temperature of carbon nanotubes to a temperature of 500° C. by using an appropriate gas and a heating process or a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), it is still difficult to form densely carbon nanotubes without containing impurities at the temperature of 500° C.
Also, to facilitate the emission of electrons, ends of emitter tips should be as pointed as possible, and the length thereof should be not more than an appropriate length of an emitting source.
Therefore, a new method capable of solving the foregoing problems is required.